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November 9 2018 by cranbak in MMA |Comments Off on Raquel Pennington on recovering from loss to Amanda Nunes, dealing with hypothyroidism

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Photos: Best of Raquel Pennington

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DENVER – The way Raquel Pennington sees it, every fight is a chance to learn and grow. And her most recent fight, against champ Amanda Nunes, was no exception.

Ultimately, Pennington signed the contract. She agreed to step into the octagon at UFC 224, in Nunes’ home country of Brazil, and she takes full responsibility for her failed title shot.

“I think everything happens for a reason,” Pennington told reporters, including MMAjunkie, after open workouts for her upcoming UFC Fight Night 139 bout. “It’s one of those things where I went out there – I’m completely grateful for the opportunity, that will never change.”

As we know, though, Pennington’s first UFC title shot didn’t go that well. Despite showing heart, Pennington took quite a lot of damage before suffering a fifth-round TKO – and, afterward, it was her corner’s turn to take a beating, for letting he bout go on even after Pennington said she was done.

And then, as we also know, the lead-up wasn’t exactly a smooth one. Pennington, who’d been blessed with a somewhat injury-free career until then, was coming off a long, emotionally challenging layoff that involved multiple surgeries and an accident.

Pennington doesn’t want to make excuses for her performance. But, understandably, it was “a lot to come back from,” especially when you’re talking about the biggest fight of one’s career.

“I kind of felt out of tune with myself, if that makes any sense,” Pennington said during a media day. “And then I experienced some injuries going through that camp, and then going out there, being in a different country. It was a cool experience, but then there was a lot of difficulties. And then I got into the accident where I broke my leg. I thought that everything was recovered and healed, and for me I don’t if it was just like being in a rush to going back out and doing what I love because I was away from it for so long.

“But in the fight with Amanda, the first strike she threw, I fell on the ground, stood back up, and she hit it a second time. And it was a game-changer. That was not me in the octagon, at all. I can honestly say I was in a defensive mode the entire fight. To watch that fight was one of the hardest fights to watch for myself to actually learn and pick out, because it was just like, that wasn’t really me in there to really learn anything.”

Pennington (9-6 MMA, 6-3 UFC) is hoping she gets to go back to looking like herself on Saturday, at Pepsi Center in Denver, where she’s se to meet former UFC featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie (8-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) in an FS1-televised main card bout.

As for lessons learned, Pennington is now aware that her leg was “not ready” for the meeting with Nunes. So, this time, the main focus was on physical therapy, which she did three to four times a week.

“As soon as I got that feeling a lot better, then obviously just getting back in the groove of everything and having fun again,” Pennington said. “There was a lot that I had to climb with the mountain, just to get over some things, emotionally, so that’s just kind of been my main focus. Just, emotional, and then some physical therapy.”

Pennington says she did her entire camp without shin guards and is now feeling “pretty confident” that the leg is better, but there were still some hurdles to overcome during this training camp. Cutting weight, as we know, is not a fun experience for any fighter. But it’s become increasingly difficult for the bantamweight.

Heading into what she estimates is her 26th weight cut, Pennington not only has to deal with the impact of the hormonal variations that are particular to the female fighters, but she’s also been dealing with hypothyroidism – which she says she’s taking medication for.

Note: Pennington missed the 136-pound limit by two pounds at weigh-ins today. She will forfeit 20 percent of her purse.

“I didn’t realize how much of an effect it would take,” Pennington said. “But it’s hard. It’s tough. I actually started this fight camp at 170, unwillingly. I do everything I could possibly do, I stay in shape. I’ve had a lot of people come to me and ask me if I’ve ever considered going down to 125. And it’s just like, I have the Mexi-roll, is what I like to call it and stuff, but with how hard I train and everything, I should actually be like a walking anatomy chart.”

“… (Hypothyroidism) is one of those things to where you develop it and, obviously, being an athlete and constantly playing with the weight and stuff. We’re just trying to find a way to fine-tune it and what truly works for me. And since it’s something so new, we haven’t exactly fine-tuned it. There was a time in this camp where I actually started at 170, I was dropping really well, training was going great, and all of a sudden I started going back up in weight.So then I shot up to 162, and we weren’t understanding it, so we went back into the doctor’s to try to figure things out. And then the weight slowly started to come off.”

When those things come into play, Pennington said, so do some questions in regard to her stay in the sport. But, ultimately, she believes she’s got it in her to keep going.

“I’m just trying to stay smart with everything and make sure that, along the way of enjoying this passion, I’m staying healthy with it,” Pennington said.